1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to foldable chairs, in general, and to a collapsible children""s patio chair especially useful for casual seating, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
Folding or collapsible chairs in the nature of furniture have been described in such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,520 (Roher et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,406 (Lee). In a multiple seat arrangement, they are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,928 (Staunton et al). For outdoor use, in camping and watching sports games, chairs of this type have been illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,605 (Chang). When a reclining chair is desired for camping, hiking, fishing, and concert events, a construction of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,068 (Levine) is said to be useful.
While chairs of these types may prove adequate to suit their intended purposes, their acceptability depends in large part upon their strength and reliability of operation. In these two areas, the folding chair of the Lee Patent (U. S. Pat. No. 5,984,406) falls somewhat short.
A significant improvement of these collapsible chairs is described in my pending United States Patent Application, entitled Collapsible Patio Chair, filed Apr. 28, 2000 as Ser. No. 09/561,339, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,138. However, the patio chair of the present invention goes one step further by being particularly attractive for use by children, in having the folding chair automatically locked in place once it is opened. The added safety feature which results will be seen to follow whether the patio chair be provided with an armrestxe2x80x94as in my Ser. No., 09/561,339 Application, or whether it be provided without an armrest.
As will become clear from the following description, the collapsible children""s patio chair of the invention consists of a frame including pairs of front crossed legs and rear crossed legs, and two pairs of side crossed legs, with each pair of crossed legs being pivotally connected together where they cross; first and second front pad connectors pivotally connected to lower ends of one of the front crossed legs and one of the side crossed legs, respectively; first and second rear pad connectors pivotally connected to lower ends of one of the rear crossed legs and the other of the side crossed legs, respectively; first and second front connectors pivotally connected to upper ends of the one front crossed leg and the other of the side crossed legs, respectively; first and second rear connectors pivotally connected to upper ends of the rear crossed legs and the one side crossed leg, respectively; a pair of side supports passing through apertures in each of the first and second rear connectors having lower ends fixedly connected to the rear pad connectors; and a fabric liner connected to the first and second front connectors and to upper ends of the pair of side supports.
To provide strength and reliability of operation beyond that characterizing the patented Lee design, the front connectors of the frame include a top surface having a notch therein open at one end and slightly larger than the diameter of the front crossed legs when composed as a tubular configuration, a first wall at an underside thereof defining one side of the notch and to which the upper ends of the front crossed legs are pivotally connected and a second wall at the underside, generally perpendicular to the first wall and combined therewith, to which the upper ends of the other of the side crossed legs are also pivotally connected. In like manner, each of the front and rear connector pads (as well as the rear connectors) include the two generally perpendicular walls for fastening with their respective pivotally connected legsxe2x80x94while the rear connector pads include apertures at the join of the two walls where the side supports are fixed.
In accordance with a particular aspect of the present invention, a compressible pin is included on each side support to snap within an aperture in the adjacent rear connector to form a positive locking securementxe2x80x94whether the collapsible chair be provided with, or without armrests. Whereas such compressible pin is preferably incorporated on a side support, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the orientation can be reversedxe2x80x94namely, with the compressible pin incorporated on a rear connector to snap fit into an aperture on the side supportxe2x80x94again, either for the patio chair design with an armrest inclusion, or without such implementation.